Day 17: La Mesa

It was an early morning in our apartment, especially for me. My 2:00 am alarm went off to get me out of bed for Kate's inhaler treatments. And of course I couldn't fall back asleep until just before my alarm was ringing again for my 4:30 am wake up call. It was a mad dash to get everyone up, ready, packed and out the door by 6:00 am for our drive to La Mesa where Kate's adoption will be finalized.

FANA arranged for Kate's nurse (one that had been caring for her at the hospital) to take care of Kate while I was gone. She only speaks Spanish and my Spanish skills are severely lacking, so it was a comical conversation we had with lots of hand gestures as I showed her where all of Kate's things were.

Kate was still snoozing away as we headed out the door and down to the garage to meet Patricia and Maria Teresa Perez. Even at 6:00 am, the traffic is thick in Bogota. It took an entire hour just to get out of the city. Rose was so tired that she quickly fell asleep on the drive.

After 3 hours in the car (and only covering 50 miles), we had arrived to the court house in La Mesa. Our lawyer met us there. We walked in and up the stairs to a counter in the Family Court Judge's office. Shane and I both signed the necessary documents to submit our case to the Judge. Then we waited to see if the Judge would be able to meet with us for our interview. There must have been some miscommunication along the way. The Judge came out about 15 minutes later dressed in her black robe, introduced herself to us and told us she had to get to court. There would be no interview today.

Jess & Rose waiting for the Judge

We got back into the car and continued down the mountain to Anapoima where La Masia Hotel is located. Shane, Nana Bev, Owen, Cole and Rose would be checking into the hotel today and staying there until Kate's adoption is finalized. We booked two hotel rooms there - one for Nana and Cole and one for Shane, Owen and Rose.  The grounds were beautiful with amazing vegetation, including mango and orange trees everywhere. There's an outdoor eating area and a pool. With how much my kids love water, they are sure to have fun splashing around in the pool.  It's very tranquil in Anapoima and the views are stunning.  It is a much needed change of scenery with us being in Colombia for 17 days now.  It'll be nice to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city for a more quiet pace in the country. The only major drawback is Kate and I can't stay.  The doctors didn't want Kate to leave Bogota. They are worried that if she descended the mountain to a much lower elevation, like Anapoima, that she'd have difficulties re-ascending the mountain to Bogota.

After getting everything settled into the rooms (with amazing views!), we grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel before it was my time to go.

It was difficult to say farewell, but Kate needed me back in Bogota and we are hoping and praying that come Friday, we will have sentencia and everyone will be able to be together again in Bogota.

The La Mesa crew spent the day swimming at the pool. The hotel has one big pool and two smaller pools (or "puppy pools" as Rose likes to call them), perfect for little people.

Nana and Cole in the pool

Rose swimming in her "puppy pool"

Owen relaxing after a swim

They enjoyed dinner at the hotel with everyone's usual favorites - a burger for Cole and chicken nuggets for Owen and Rose.

I finally returned to Bogota at 3:30 pm - it was a grueling 4 hours in the car, with 2 hours being stuck in Bogota traffic. My stomach was turning from all the vehicle exhaust - phew! I was so glad when we rolled up to Plenitud. I said my good-byes to Patricia and Maria Teresa and scurried back up to our apartment to see how my little princess was doing.  When I got to our door, my key card wouldn't work. It kept beeping and blinking red. Great! Locked out again!! Thankfully the nurse was able to let me in.

Kate was fast asleep with her extra thick blanket wrapped around her, her sleep sack folded up by her feet and pillow in her crib. I never use loose blankets in her bed and what 9 month old needs a pillow? Only in Colombia!

Kate snoozed away during the much confusing conversation I had with the nurse. I just wanted to pay her for her time, but she said I had to talk to her jefe (boss), but her boss didn't speak English and I was already way to confused. Thankfully I had downloaded WhatsApp after the Uber confusion earlier this week so I quickly called Patricia to interpret for us. Turns out I needed to pay the company the nurse works for directly by making a deposit at the bank.  Ummm...no way would I be able to do that!  So after much back and forth, the nurse left with a plan to give all the bank deposit information to Patricia.  When the nurse returns hopefully in a few days to watch Kate again when I go back to La Mesa to sign Kate's adoption decree, Patricia or Maria Teresa will make the bank deposit on my behalf.

After the nurse left, I woke Kate up. It was almost 5:00 pm and I was worried she wouldn't sleep tonight if she kept on sleeping.  I mixed her up some baby food mixed with rice cereal and she ate it all along with a couple rice rusk snacks.

Then we were off on our first adventure with just the two of us and the oxygen tank in tow. We needed our key cards replaced or we'd risk getting locked out of the apartment again!  So with Kate in one arm and her oxygen tank in the other, we made our way down to the front office to get new cards. And our trip was a success!

The rest of our evening was spent in a much too quite apartment. It definitely feels lonely here with the majority of our family in La Mesa. Keep praying for a speedy Sentencia!  While I love having this one-on-one time with Kate, it hurts this Mama's heart not being with all of my littles. Once we sign Sentencia, Kate will be legally ours and we can all be together again in Bogota.

Tomorrow a doctor is coming by in the morning to check on Kate. I'm praying she will be able to be off the oxygen soon.  Moving her around is much more complicated and difficult with an oxygen tank attached to her.  Pray those little lungs continue to heal and she can breath easily once again!